Wednesday, July 13, 2016

This diminutive subspecies of axe beak (a supposed
cross-bread with blood hawks) is a creature common to Salt in Wounds although
many more thousands have been exported in recent years. These riding dog sized
birds can readily serve as mounts for small creatures in addition to providing
home & property defense or even serve to bolster militia forces. While not
considered to be an equal to a wolf in a straight fight, hatchetbeaks
none-the-less exhibit instinctive ‘tactics’ (fortified by training) which make
them even more deadly than domesticated dogs of similar stature. While unable
to fly, these raptors generally seek out elevated ‘roosts’ from which they dive
down at adversaries with lightning quick strikes. Estates may well be protected
by half a dozen hatchetbeaks, silent & hidden until they screech down at
trespassers, landing a vicious blowand
raising other defenders with their piercing cry. Well trained hatchetbeaks
continually disengage to seek a hidden roost and launch an additional
gravityempowered strike, staying just
out of their opponent’s reach and slowly bleeding them out by successive
slashes from their clawed feat and beaks.

Infiltrex Harpy

Infiltrex Harpies are shapechangers born of one human and
one harpy parent. Their existence is not common knowledge. They possess two
forms: a harpy form (capable of flight) and a human form both of which are
completely convincing. They usually have some inborn magic capable of
befuddling the mind and confounding the senses that enables them to better
serve as infiltrators, spies, and (occasionally) diplomats. They also utilize
these abilities in combat, preferring to to defeat their opponents through
subterfuge or stealth than a direct confrontation. Another common tactic is
their use of ‘silence drops’ where they fly under the effects of a silence
spell with a carried opponent, finally dropping them near a tower to be slain
in such a manner as to resemble suicide (which is a particularly favored
technique to eliminate troublesome without arousing suspicion).

Hypothetically, Infiltrex Harpies loyal to human societies
could just as easily scout and manipulate harpy communities though the
predatory, near sociopathic mindset common to these creatures often meshes
better with their harpy progenitors than their human ones.

Alchemical Oblate

These loathsome creatures are former humans who have been
alchemically modified to serve the purpose of biological production of
rare/unique reagents. Traditionally, to produce an alchemical oblate a child or
adolescent is abducted. Over the coming months, their eyes, limbs and
‘extraneous’ organs are all removed whereupon they are force-fed a diet of
mutagenic concoctions to induce the growth of new glands or to further modify
their existing bodily systems to produce caustic bile, supernaturally
sustaining blood, or other excretions useful for the alchemist who lays claim
to them.

Pitiful and slow, most oblates are unable to produce any
dangerous substance and can only manage movement by inching. As such, most are
quite passive and would beg for death had their minds and language centers not
been reduced to putty by their treatments. However, exceptional specimens can
be quite deadly; possessed of anger and rage, scenting the air with their
gaping nostrils or tripartite tongue, able to vomit gouts of boiling acid, and
slither with serpentine grace. . Depending on the treatments they have received
and their disposition, some alchemical oblates are controlled by use of a
muzzle and harness.

Stunted Stone Giant

Also called pebble giants, stone men, and the stunted;
Stunted Stone Giants are the diminished offspring and great-offspring of
enslaved stone giants. Some feature of their generational captivity prevents
these creatures from acquiring the stature of their forebears, even if they
exhibit some significant fraction of their line’s strength and stone-cunning.
Like proper stone giants, these creatures have darkvision, and a gray, stone
like skin that makes them nearly invisible when hiding amongst stones… though
most have elaborate runic tattoos that signify the chain of their ownership.
Stunted Stone Giants mature faster through to adolescence than proper stone
giants though alchemical analysis of their blood leads many researchers to
suspect that they will ‘enjoy’ even longer lifespans than their larger cousins
(though none have yet been around long enough to verify this). Distinct from
other stone giants, the stunted are known for being incredible stealthy and prefer
to fight with telescoping, long reaching whip-spears with which they can slay
an opponent with a single well placed strike.

A minority of stunted stone giants hold the belief that when
all are free, they will be able to grow to their proper height while many more
have accepted their enslavement and stature as the inescapable curse their birthright.

Clot

Clots are the rare aggregate pools of Tarrasque blood that
has managed to cling to itself and squirm into a semblance of mindless life.
They resemble nothing so much as swirling masses of coagulating red viscera,
forming reaching, questing pseudopods as they writhe across the ground.
Behaviorally, clots function much like oozes found elsewhere; mindlessly
seeking organic matter to engulf and consume. Although individually weak (at
least compared to other hazards of Salt in Wounds), clots possess two
supernatural qualities that make them dangerous. When damaged, they split into
two similarly sized clots, sharing their remaining life force between the two
of them. While this behavior isn’t unknown amongst those who regularly slay
oozes, it is all clots’ ability to regenerate almost as fast as the Tarrasque
itself that means even divided, damaged clots quickly regain any vitality lost
in their splitting. With a few ill-timed blows, adventurers can quickly go from
facing two or three clots to facing a veritable army of the creatures; each
quickly regaining full strength. As such, care must be taken when facing these
monsters. Those with experience fighting clots know to use more powerful, or
even synchronized blows to ensure they destroy these abominations outright
*before* they’re given a chance to reproduce endlessly.